July MAp Traffic

2010-08-20 15:30:18

MAp today released its monthly report on traffic performance at its airports for July 2010.
MAp Chief Executive Officer, Ms Kerrie Mather, said, “We welcome another excellent set of traffic results this month. Led by a record performance from both Sydney and Copenhagen, MAp’s airports continue to benefit from strong passenger numbers and further capacity announcements. This result reflects the attractiveness of MAp’s airports as airlines continue to expand their networks out of Sydney, Copenhagen and Brussels and enjoy higher load factors."Sydney Airport’s strong performance continued in July with a record number of passengers. International outbound growth remains strong and the performance of Asian inbound markets was also very pleasing, particularly from China, Japan, and Korea. There were also a number of significant capacity announcements during the month with a focus on Asian destinations.
Domestic carriers enjoyed a strong month with a 10% growth in total passengers versus the pcp. “Copenhagen Airport delivered an outstanding performance with over 2.2 million passengers passing through the airport making it the busiest month ever on record. Copenhagen recorded growth on all fronts, driven by growth on the new intercontinental routes to New York JFK, Toronto and Doha, and the increased number of routes operated by low cost carriers from Copenhagen. Pleasingly, Copenhagen continues to welcome new route and capacity announcements, further underlining its status as a key Northern European traffic hub."
British Airways announced a new route to London City Airport commencing 12 September, whilst Qatar Airways and SAS both announced increases in capacity on intercontinental routes commencing winter 2010. “Brussels Airport continues to benefit from strong long haul traffic growth reflecting load factor and capacity increases as well as the introduction of new services. Brussels Airport continues to attract increased capacity with new services announced to Casablanca and Kiev as well as additional frequencies to Dublin and Warsaw paving the way for future growth,” Ms Mather added.
Sydney Airport Key Points:
Total passenger traffic for July is estimated to have increased 9.4% on the pcp, with domestic traffic estimated to be up 10.0% on the pcp and international traffic (excluding domestic on-carriage) up 7.8% on the pcp.
Australia was the major market which grew (+9%) together with traveller growth from China (+47%), Japan (+47%), Korea (+12%), New Zealand (+9%), France (+5%), India (+4%), and Germany (+2%). The USA (-6%), UK (-5%), and Canada (-3%) were the major markets that declined.
Qantas increased capacity to Japan in July 2010, replacing 6 of the 7 weekly flights utilising A330 aircraft with larger B747 aircraft.
Singapore Airlines will increase capacity to Singapore from October 2010, up-gauging one of its B777-300ER aircraft to an A380, adding 200 seats per flight.
Malaysia Airlines will introduce two additional weekly services direct to Kuala Lumpur from 31 October 2010.
V Australia will introduce an additional weekly service to Los Angeles from December 2010.
Cathay Pacific increased frequencies on its Hong Kong route by 3 flights per week to 24 flights per week in July 2010 and will offer a further four weekly flights moving to four times daily from November 2010.
Air New Zealand commenced a weekly service to Rarotonga in July 2010.
Domestically, Qantas introduced six weekly services to Perth in July 2010 and Virgin Blue commenced its weekly B737-800 service to Uluru in August 2010.
Copenhagen Airport Key Points:
July traffic was 11.3% higher than the pcp with over 2.2m passengers passing through the airport, making July the busiest month ever.
International O&D traffic was 9.9% up on the pcp, whilst domestic O&D traffic was 28.3% up on the pcp.
International O&D traffic performance was driven by growth across all sectors, with two new routes to Toronto and New York JFK benefitting North American traffic, and continued growth across routes to the Middle East, Asia and Africa, all up over 20%. Domestic traffic continues to perform very strongly, with traffic to Karup more than tripling and strong growth on the routes to Billund, Rønne, Aarhus and Aalborg.
Transfer traffic, 11.7% above the pcp, continues to benefit from the strategic initiative with SAS to reduce connection times.
British Airways announced 11 weekly services from Copenhagen to London City Airport, commencing 12 September 2010. Once opened, Copenhagen will have a total of 23 daily services to London.
Qatar Airways has announced that it will expand capacity on its route between Copenhagen and Doha which was first opened in March 2010.
Qatar Airways will more than double capacity on the route from 31 October 2010, with the introduction of larger aircraft. Qatar will also further increase capacity on the route in February 2011 with an increase from four to six weekly frequencies.
SAS announced that it will bring an extra aircraft into operation for its winter 2010 programme. The additional aircraft will increase the number of frequencies on the services from Copenhagen to New York, Chicago, Bangkok and Dubai.
Brussels Airport Key Points:
Total traffic for July was 2.1% higher than the pcp, primarily as a result of good performance from long haul carriers, as well as a strong growth on a number of short haul routes operated by both full service and low cost carriers.
Extra-EU traffic was 7.0% above the pcp.
The strong performance in the segment was driven predominantly by the launch of new long haul services by Brussels Airlines facilitated by introduction of the fifth Airbus A330, as well as new routes to Chicago (United Airlines), Montreal (Air Canada) and Shanghai (Hainan Airlines). In addition, most carriers have experienced higher load factors.
Intra-EU traffic was 1.0% below the pcp. This is despite strong growth from a number of full service carriers operating on short haul routes and underlying growth of low cost carriers.
In both cases, growth has been driven by increases in load factors and the introduction of additional services. Intra-EU traffic was affected by the unusually high number of flight cancellations by an airline across its European network and the continued effect of Sky Europe’s bankruptcy in September 2009.
In July, Brussels Airport’s route network was expanded by services to Africa (Abidjan, Accra, Cotonou, Lome and Ouagadougou) operated by Brussels Airlines, a new service to Ercan operated by Corendon Airlines, as well as increased frequencies to London (British Airways) and Barcelona (Vueling). In addition, newly announced network enhancements include increases in services over the upcoming months to Dublin (Aer Lingus) and Warsaw (LOT Polish Airlines), as well as new services to Casablanca by Air Arabia from November 2010 (currently operated from Charleroi Airport), and a restart of services to Kiev by Ukraine International Airlines from late September 2010.